Mythology in Modern Pop Culture

Myth In Pop Culture I watched the movie “300” directed by Zack Snyder, which was based off of the battle of Thermopylae, between the Greeks and the Persians in 480 B. C. In the movie, Persians threaten to enslave and change the ways of the Spartan people.

The leader of Sparta is King Leonidas which has 300 Spartan soldiers behind him in the battle against the Persians which is lead by Xerxes who thought of himself as a god in the movie. The 300 Spartan soldiers had to defend a thin path called Thermopylae also called the hot gates which they slaughtered 10,000 + men (Gills, 1). Spartans were expert fighters and fearless warriors.At birth the new borns are raised up only if they are healthy and perfectly formed to allow genetic upbreeding. At age 7, young boys are taken from their homes and brought up by the state. Only the strongest can be a Spartan and were in brutal combat training, they were also taught to swim, run, and to dance.

The Greeks believed rhythmic movements were good training for the body and character. By the age of 20 the young men are now full out killing machines. At the age of 30 the men are allowed to marry and start a house hold (Flawlesslogic. com).

When Spartans go into battle they are in the mind set of dying or preparing for death.They have no fear of confrontation with anyone nor how large the enemy army is. The Spartans defended a strategic spot called the Pass of Thermopylae which was a narrow path about 50 feet wide with steep mountains surrounding it (flawlesslogic. com).

This made it almost impossible for the Persian troops to penetrate. In the battle, Leonidas has +/- 300 spartan men and 700 men from Thespeae and Thebes, fighting against Xerxes waves of soldiers that try to defeat the Spartans but could not succeed. Even after sending 10,000 immortals which were elite corps of 10,000 men, to the hot gates they were all killed off or fled from the area.The battle scenes are action packed with armored covered elephants, and rhinos running through the battle field. The rhino is killed by a spear thrown through its eye and the elephants fall off the cliffs into the ocean. Added to have some more action and to show the power of the Spartans and Persians.

Director Zack Snyder adds in the movie a troll like creature that is eventually decapitated. Another unusual creature in the movie is Ephialtes, which is depicted as the hutch-back greek that wants to join the Spartan army but is rejected by Leonidas due to him not being able to hold his shield up.Creating a flaw or weakness in the Spartan forces. He then becomes a traitor from being told he will get riches and women if he bows to Xerxes and leads his army.

Ephialtes then tells Xerxes about a path up the one mountain to get the Spartans from behind them. This is why they lost the battle against Persian forces. The last of the Spartans troops that stayed to help defend were finished off by Persian archers where Leonidas is killed. In the myth of the actual battle, Ephialtes was a Malian Greek traitor who told the Persians of a pass around Thermopylae and guided them through the pass.When the Spartans tried defending the hot gates the opposite way they were defeated.

Theban soldiers surrendered, while the Thespian and Spartan soldiers retreated and were then shot by archers (Gills, N. S. ). In the end Ephialtes never is rewarded all the riches he was promised due to the Persians were defeated later on at the Battle of Salamis.

King Leonidas and his troops finally were finished off after 4 different waves of enemy troops. Some of the Greek forces were withdrawn which took down the amount of protection and attack force of Leonidas’s army.Leonidas died in battle bravely in the huge number of arrows which was inescapable. The Persian military had heavy losses including Xerses two brothers. At the end of the battle, the body of Leonidas was either crucified or beheaded by orders of Xerxes (Gills, N.

S. ). So overall I think the movie “300” did a fair job of being a good movie and portraying the ancient Greek Spartans pretty good at being ruthless and fighting machines. The movie did tweak some stuff like there really wasn’t exactly 300 men, but rather around 300 Spartans and 700 some other Greek soldiers that helped defend Thermopylae.And the movie added troll like creatures as enemies of the Greeks and had rhinos and elephants as bio-tanks to add the science-fiction to the movie and to dramatize how strong and brave the Spartans were. Bibliography Gills, N.

S. “Persian Wars Battle at Thermopylae-480 B. C. ” About. com. Ancient/Classical History.

n. d. Web. 29 Oct.

2011. Kerasaridis, Fotis. “Battle” The Battle of Thermopylae. n. d. Web.

29 Oct 2011. “Leonidas the Spartan”. Library. flawlesslogic. com/leonidas. htm.

Fourteen Word Press, n. d. Web. 29 Oct. 2011.